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Decoupling the NES from the Famicom


fcgamer

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16 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

I'm Italian.  That's the only way.  Anything less isn't lasagne.

To be fair, Wiz probably has an Italian mother threatening to have him sleep with the fishes if he gets a noodle a quarter inch out of alignment. Of course he's going to have exacting lasagna standards. 😛

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19 hours ago, fcgamer said:

The Japanese classify the disk system as its own thing

Ok, then run the games for it without connecting it to a Famicom and let me know how that goes.  I'll wait.  FDS games are a subset of the library of the Famicom itself, seeing as they require the Famicom hardware itself to play them (and not just for the video out capabilities of the system).  They are different from the cartridge games, and should be considered a subset of the Famicom library, but they are absolutely not something else unto their own until the FDS itself (and not a Twin Famicom unless you delete all the actual Famicom hardware inside before the attempt) can run the games all on its own.

19 hours ago, phart010 said:

NES and Famicom don’t have the same exact hardware though. For example, Famicom controller 2 has a built in microphone. As a result, many games used its functionality… even Zelda! And the extra sound channel while still present in NES, it is not enabled. You have to modify the hardware to enable it.

When they ported software from Famicom to NES they had to remove microphone functionality as well as the extra sound channel due to hardware incompatibility. Just sayin 🙄

Also, do you consider the 60-pin port and the 72-pin port as “hardware”? If you do, they are not the same… 🤪

I actually read all the way through this thread before replying, so I know what you're doing here, but seriously...did you not read what I wrote at least a couple of times earlier?  I preemptively copped to the four "major" differences between the NES and Famicom--the cart connectors, the expansion ports, the fact that the expansion port audio wasn't connected in the NES, and the microphone in the second controller.  All of the logic and chips are on the NES to deal with the latter two things, you just have to wire them up.  The first two can be accomplished on the NES via passive pass-through adapters which just point the Famicom's pinout to the correct spots on the NES.  Those four things are almost completely cosmetic changes, and are absolutely just regional differences between the two consoles.

19 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Yeah, FDS is technically different.  I wanted to say it's analogous to the 32X vs Genesis, but really it's much closer than that.  Most FDS games can be made cart-compatible with changing just a small segment of code.  I've got Doki Doki Panic, SMB2J and a few other FDS games on cart form, and I can't believe the Chinese bootleggers would have had to spend months and months reworking the entire code.  So the code does have to be hacked, but I'm guessing that 95% of the code is compatible with the NES/Famicom architecture...

So yeah, the FDS is technically a different system in my view, but it's about as close to the NES/Famicom as you can possibly get without saying it's the same library...

The code differences between FDS games and cart games comes down to calls to the disk drive and its controller (the RAM adapter) versus talking to hardware on a cartridge.  FDS games are 100% Famicom games, just ones that require a special bit of hardware in order to get the data from their diskettes into the RAM of the Famicom.  If they were actually different systems (and the same goes for stuff like the Sega/Mega CD), then you wouldn't need to piggyback them onto its parent system for it to work.  I concede that they're 100% subsets of their respective libraries, but they aren't separate systems or consoles all on their own, at least not until the add-ons can play games by themselves.

19 hours ago, phart010 said:

According to this, it would be impossible to complete a game of Super Chinese 2 on an NES system due to hardware limitations 😈

Super Chinese 2
This game apparently has a place in game where you must blow into the mic to be able to proceed. Confirmed in this video: http://www.mmcafe.com/nico.html#http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm18096475 at 22:14 there's a dialogue with princess Leila and she tells you to blow into the microphone to prove yourself.

And if you properly hooked up a microphone-equipped controller to an NES (which is 100% possible, since the hardware inside the console is the same as the Famicom's), you'd 100% be able to do so.  I guess Power Pad games are 100% their own thing, then, because you'd have to hook up the required accessory in order to play them based on this line of thinking, right?

16 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Tristar 64 would shake the magic 8 ball and point out 'all signs point to yes'   Therefore it must be true.

Going to agree from experience that the FDS is its own thing, so fcgamer got that one right, much like how people view the SegaCD as it's own system and same with the Turbo/PCE CD, it may be co-dependent, but it's its own hardware and software library that stands alone.

Tristar64 wasn't a passthrough adapter, it had SOAC hardware inside, so it wasn't simply an adapter and wouldn't apply

As for the FDS (and Sega CD, Turbo CD, etc.), it's not 100% its own thing, otherwise it wouldn't need the "mother" console connected in order to be able to play its games.  Those types of games which require a specific system add-on to be played can absolutely be considered their own sub-set of the main library, but until they can play their games all on their own (and with all the guts matching the mother system removed in the case of systems like the Twin Famicom or PCE CD systems where both parts were built into one chassis), they aren't, and never will be, completely separate.

10 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

The FDS is comparable to the Sega CD and absolutely should not be considered as part of the Famicom library.  Those carts you speak of were ports, not simply conversions.  It takes more to play them without an FDS unit than just putting the same code on a chip.  The FDS expanded the capabilities of the Famicom in the same way that the SCD did with the Genesis/Mega Drive.  It'd be like saying the SCD library should be considered part of the Genesis library because some of the games exist in cart form.

They should, though, but as sub-sets of the main library.  If they were their own thing, then the add-on alone would be able to play the games, and they simply can't.  The biggest thing that the add-ons do is allow the data on the inserted media to be read into memory on the parent console, at which point the parent console is what actually runs the games.  In the case of the FDS, it's literally just a floppy disk drive and a floppy disk controller that you plug into the Famicom, as well as the custom software burned to ROMs in order to boot up in the Famicom.  Until such add-ons can run their own titles without the parent hardware being attached (or present, such as in the cases of the Twin Famicom, etc.), they simply cannot be separate systems.

6 hours ago, Link said:

NES, Atari, Apple II, and C64 all use the same CPU

Actually the NES and C64 had different CPUs from the Atari and Apple II, as well as each other.  Everything you mentioned is 6502 based, but the NES's version is a custom Ricoh variant, and the C64 uses the 6510, another custom version of the 6502, this time produced by MOS specifically for Commodore.

30 minutes ago, Sumez said:

Also, all FDS games are Famicom games (as are MegaCD games MegaDrive games), but clearly not all Famicom games are FDS games.

I can understand seeing FDS as a separate platform, because games are made specifically to be used with it - to run it, not just as a peripheral, so I'm cool with that. But for most purposes trying to separate them from the rest of the NES/FC library, doesn't really do much good, so it makes sense to see it as a subset.

I see them as subsets of their parent libraries, as the add-on games cannot function without the parent console's hardware present.  If they were truly separate systems or consoles, they wouldn't have to be plugged into their parent system.

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12 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:
56 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

To be fair, Wiz probably has an Italian mother threatening to have him sleep with the fishes if he gets a noodle a quarter inch out of alignment. Of course he's going to have exacting lasagna standards. 😛

Not so much my mom, but my grandma for sure.

Lol.  I can't help imagining this as a funny little comic.  Too bad there's no one around here who could create such a thing.  ...   ....    .....

.................................    .................................................   ................................

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1 hour ago, Gloves said:

I imagine he's adding multiple different cheeses, hand-rolling the pasta, raising his own livestock...

It's an all day affair, man.

Just make sure to massage the cow for a good hour before slaughter. Believe me it makes all the difference in the world 🤪

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4 hours ago, Gloves said:

I think he's asleep.

Yeah 13 hours ahead, it's 5:30am~ as of when I wrote this, tomorrow morning.

4 hours ago, Tulpa said:

Actually not snark, just pointing out the disconnect of castigating a set of games without having played them, which is a core (if not THE core) of his argument. Kind of blows a gaping hole in his credibility.

I get that, and I'm not sure how far he dug down the US rabbithole, some sure, but famicom is more that wheelhouse there for him along with FDS and probably being the most versed in all the piratey shenanigans.  It's strange having never owned a Famicom nor really growing up with it, but because of the high level of warezy shit I pulled 25 years ago give or take so much of it I had to try out, test, work with so I have some passing memory of plenty more than likely most westerners.  Sad thing, thinking about it, I'd be more in line with not getting hosed by gaping credibility holes with the FC. 😄

3 hours ago, wongojack said:

This thread is interesting.  Question here - has anyone ever hooked a Famicom Disk System up to a NES?  Is it possible to do so?  I'm not trying to imply anything by the question, I'm just interested if such a thing has ever been done.

I'm fairly certain I saw it rigged up using a top loader since it and the AV Famicom are basically the same structurally speaking on top other than the pin difference, and that can be dealt with using a honeybee(or other) low profile adapter.  I've considered getting a FDS and doing just what I'm writing about here.

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5 hours ago, Tulpa said:

 

 

 

So wait, have you actually PLAYED the majority the North American exclusives?

I have, though I wish I hadn't.

I have drawers and drawers of these bootlegs, which are all western exclusives. I actually think I'd likely have a better idea of the exclusives than many here, since I actually had to research things when trying to document and collect these bootlegs (doing the same for Genesis exclusives btw).

IMG20230110075229.jpg

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The NES exclusives are going to be something like this. There might be a few mistakes on it. 

Which ones are the hidden gems that I am missing?

 

6 in 1 (Caltron)
720 Degrees
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Action 52
Addams Family
Addams Family: Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: DragonStrike
Adventures of Golligan’s Island
Adventures of Lolo
Adventures of Rad Gravity
Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
After Burner
Airwolf
Alex DeMeo’s Race America (Race America)
Alfred Chicken
Alien 3
American Gladiators
Anticipation
Arch Rivals: A Basket Brawl!
Archon
Arkista’s Ring
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Baby Boomer
Back to the Future
Back to the Future II & III
Bad Street Brawler
Bandai Golf: Challenge Pebble Beach
Barbie
Barker Bill’s Trick Shooting
Baseball Stars II
Batman Returns
Battle Chess
Battleship
Battletoads & Double Dragon
Bee 52
Beetlejuice
Best of the Best: Championship Karate
Bible Adventures
Bible Buffet
Big Nose Freaks Out
Big Nose the Caveman
Bigfoot
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure
Bill Elliott’s NASCAR Challenge
Blackjack (AVE)
Blues Brothers
Bo Jackson Baseball
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Break Time: The National Pool Tour
BreakThru
Bubble Bath Babes
Cabal
Caesar’s Palace
California Games
Captain America and the Advengers
Captain Comic: The Adventure
Captain Planet and the Planeteers
Captain Skyhawk
Casino Kid II
Castle of Deceit
Caveman Games
Challenge of the Dragon
Championship Pool
Chessmaster
Chiller
Classic Concentration
Cliffhanger
Cobra Triangle
Color a Dinosaur
Conan
Contra Force
Cool World
Crystal Mines
Cyber Stadium Series: Base Wars
Cyberball
Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine
Danny Sullivan’s Indy Heat
Darkman
Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum
Day Dreamin’ Davey
Days of Thunder
Death Race
Deathbots
Defender of the Crown
Defenders of Dynatron City
Destination Earthstar
Dick Tracy
Digger T. Rock: Legend of the Lost City
Dirt Harry
Disney’s Adventures in the Magic Kingdom
Disney’s Darkwing Duck
Disney’s TaleSpin
Disney’s The Jungle Book
Dizzy the Adventurer
Donkey Kong Classics
Double Dare
Double Strike
Dudes with Attitude
Dynowarz: Destruction of Spondylus
Eliminator Boat Duel
Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land
F-117A Stealth Fighter
F-15 City War
F-15 Strike Eagle
Family Feud
Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy
Fantasy Zone
Felix the Cat
Fester’s Quest
Firehawk
Fisher-Price: Firehouse Rescue
Fisher-Price: I Can Remember
Fisher-Price: Perfect Fit
Flight of the Intruder
Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak!
Flying Warriors
Formula One: Built to Win
Fox’s Peter Pan & the Pirates: The Revenge of Captain Hook
Frankenstein: The Monster Returns
Freedom Force
Friday the 13th
Fun House
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor
Galactic Crusader
Galaxy 5000: Racing in the 51st Century
Garry Kitchen’s Battletank
Gauntlet
Gauntlet II
George Foreman’s KO Boxing
Ghostbusters II
Ghoul School
Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters
Gotcha! The Sport!
Great Waldo Search
Greg Norman’s Golf Power
Gumshoe
Harlem Globetrotters
Heavy Shreddin’
High Spoeed
Hollywood Squares
Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Hunt for Red October
Immortal
Impossible Mission II
Incredible Crash Dummies
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1991)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1993)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Infiltrator
IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II
Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s Super Off Road
Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf
James Bond Jr.
Jaws
Jeopardy!
Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary Edition
Jeopardy! Junior Edition
Jim Henson’s Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival
Jimmy Connors Tennis
Joe & Mac
John Elway’s Quarterback
Jordan vs Bird: One on One
Joshua & the Battle of Jericho
Jurassic Park
Karate Kid
KickMaster
King Neptune’s Adventure
King of Kings: The Early Years
King’s Quest V
Kings of the Beach
Kiwi Kraze
KlashBall
Krazy Kreatures
Krusty’s Fun House
Last Action Hero
Last Ninja
Last Starfighter
Legendary Wings
Legends of the Diamond: The Baseball Championship Game
Lemmings
Lethal Weapon
Linus Spacehead’s Cosmic Crusade
Lone Ranger
Loopz
Low G Man: The Low Gravity Man
M.C. Kids
M.U.L.E.
Mad Max
Magic Johnson’s Fast Break
Magician
Major League Baseball
Maniac Mansion
Marble Madness
Mario is Missing!
Mario’s Time Machine
Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu
Maxi 15
Mechanized Attack
Menace Beach
Mermaids of Atlantis: The Riddle of the Magic Bubble
Mickey’a Safari in Letterland
Mickey’s Adventure in Numberland
Micro Machines
Mig 29: Soviet Fighter
Miracle Piano Teaching System
Mission Cobra
Mission: Impossible
Monster in My Pocket
Monster Party
Monster Truck Rally
Moon Ranger
Motor City Patrol
Ms. Pac Man (Namco)
Ms. Pac Man (Tengen)
Mutant Virus: Crisis in a Computer World
NARC
NES Play Action Football
NFL Football
Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing
Nightshade
Nintendo World Championships 1990
Operation: Secret Storm
Orb 3-D
Overlord
P’radikus Conflict
Pac-Mania
Paperboy 2
Peek a Boo Poker
Pesterminator: The Western Exterminator
Pictionary
Pinbot
Pipe Dream
Pirates!
Platoon
Power Blade
Power Punch II
Prince of Persia
Punisher
Puss ‘N Boots: Pero’s Great Adventure
Puzzle
Pyramid
Q*Bert
Qix
Quattro Adventure
Quattro Arcade
Quattro Sports
R.B.I. Baseball 2
R.B.I. Baseball 3
R.C. Pro-Am
R.C. Pro-Am II
Rad Racer II
Rad Racket: Deluxe Tennis II
Raid 2020
Rampage
Rampart
Remote Control
Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$!
Road Runner
RoadBlasters
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
RoboCop 3
Robodemons
Rocket Ranger
Rocketeer
Roger Clemens’ MVP Baseball
Rollerblade Racer
Rollergames
Roundball 2-on-2 Challenge
Secret Scout in the Temple of Demise
Sesame Street: 123
Sesame Street: ABC
Sesame Street: ABC & 123
Sesame Street: Big Bird’s Hide & Speak
Sesame Street: Countdown
Shinobi
ShockWave
Shooting Range
Short Order / Eggsplode!
Silent Assault
Silent Service
Silkworm?
Silver Surfer
Simpsons: Bart vs the Space Mutants
Simpsons: Bart vs the World
Simpsons: Bartman Meets Radioactive Man
Skate or Die
Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble
Ski or Die
Skull & Crossbones
Sky Shark
Slalom
Smash T.V.
Snake Rattle n Roll
Snake’s Revenge
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship
Solitaire (AVE)
Space Shuttle Project
Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six
Spiritual Warfare
Spy Hunter
Stanley: The Search for Dr. Livingston
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
Star Trek: The Next Generation
StarTropics
Stealth ATF
Strider?
Stunt Kids
Sunday Funday: The Ride
Super Cars
Super Glove Ball
Super Jeopardy!
Super Mario Bros / Duck Hunt
Super Mario Bros / Duck Hunt / World Class Track Meet
Super Spike V’Ball / Nintendo World Cup
Swamp Thing
Swords and Serpents
T&C Surf Designs: Thrilla’s Surfari
T&C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage
Taboo: The Sixth Sense
Tagin’ Dragon
Target: Renegade
Tecmo Baseball
Tecmo NBA Basketball
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
Terminator
Tetris (Tengen)
Three Stooges
Thundercade
Tiles of Fate
Time Lord
Tiny Toon Adventures: Cartoon Workshop
To the Earth
Toobin’
Total Recall
Toxic Crusaders
Treasure Master
Trog!
Trolls on Treasure Island
Ultima: Warriors of Destiny
Ultimate League Soccer
Ultimate Stuntman
Uncanny X-Men
Venice Beach Volleyball
Videomation
Vindicators
Wally Bear and the NO! Gang
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
Wayne’s World
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune: Family Edition
Wheel of Fortune: Featuring Vanna White
Wheel of Fortune: Junior Edition
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Where’s Waldo?
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Widget
Win, Lose, or Draw
Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power
Wolverine
World Games
WWF King of the Ring
WWF Wrestlemania
WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge
Xenophobe
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja
Zoda’s Revenge: Star Tropics II
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6 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I have, though I wish I hadn't.

I have drawers and drawers of these bootlegs, which are all western exclusives. I actually think I'd likely have a better idea of the exclusives than many here, since I actually had to research things when trying to document and collect these bootlegs (doing the same for Genesis exclusives btw).

 

Then what does this statement mean?

6 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I mean, can't really take part in the other competitions when I don't have the NES games.

 

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11 minutes ago, Ankos said:

@fcgamerIsn't Caltron just a trimmed down Asder 20 in 1? I guess it is technically a different release, but for the purposes of comparing gameplay quality between the FC and NES I don't think it counts

Actually Caltron was released on Famicom too, just not in Japan. The discussion was NES versus (Japanese) Famicom, if we want to open it up to Famiclone stuff as well, well then basically 98% of the exclusives were released in Famiclone regions back in the day.

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1 minute ago, Tulpa said:

Yeah, but ... don't you have the cartridges, like in that picture? Bootlegs don't disqualify you, either.

I thought we can't use alternative versions, as they wouldn't be necessarily the same as the NES ones in terms of difficulty, lives, etc.

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Just now, fcgamer said:

I thought we can't use alternative versions, as they wouldn't be necessarily the same as the NES ones in terms of difficulty, lives, etc.

Okay, so are those or are those not the western exclusives? Because if they're different, they might skew your perspective on them, yes?

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3 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

Okay, so are those or are those not the western exclusives? Because if they're different, they might skew your perspective on them, yes?

They are Nintendo of America western exclusives. Besides that, something you might be forgetting is I had a lot of these games years ago when I collected NES.

Now back to that list, which are the hidden gems? I'm not seeing a lot.

 

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3 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

They are Nintendo of America western exclusives. Besides that, something you might be forgetting is I had a lot of these games years ago when I collected NES.

Okay, which games on the list did you have? And how thoroughly did you play through them?

I'm not trying to catch you in a gotcha or anything, just making sure there's no bias that might be creeping into your argument.

At any rate, plenty of people have played through the majority of the library. But can you give an assessment of the NA exclusives? Like a one or two liner for each? Then others can chime in and we'll see how it stacks up.

Edited by Tulpa
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